NBC wins two Olympics rights

Published on August 08, 1995.

In a pre-emptive bid blindsiding ABC, CBS and Fox, NBC obtained the first-ever successive U.S. rightsto Summer and Winter Olympics TV coverage. NBC will pay $1.27 billion for the2000 Summer Games in Sydney and the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. TheSydney organizing committee will receive $715 million in rights payments, andSalt Lake City will receive $555 million. In addition, NBC agreed to providemultichannel coverage, including extensive coverage on two dedicated cablechannels that will occupy CNBC and America's Talking channels. NBC and parentGeneral Electric Co. made the bid early last week, giving the Olympic committeesuntil the weekend to accept with no option to pursue an outside bid.